


The Pilots

by TWDObsessive



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Chicken Soup (Bingo), Fights, M/M, Possible make up, Post-Break Up, Rickyl Writers' Group Bingo 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 19:45:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14700945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWDObsessive/pseuds/TWDObsessive
Summary: Pilot Rick and co-pilot Daryl end up on the same flight after a breakup.  A childish fight ensues.  Will they break up or make up at 35,000 feet?





	The Pilots

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I don't have enough work to do at work. This is being posted unbeta'd because my lovely beta, lotr58 is knee-deep in my longer fic, The Cops. There's practically a guarantee that you'll see a lot of typos. Apologies!

Rick put his cap on and pulled his flight bag behind him as he entered the 747.

“Hi Captain,” Andrea said as she organized the drink cart.   
.  
Carol, in a matching US Air uniform, looked up and smiled. “Nice day for a flight,” she said. 

Carol usually gave that same greeting even if it was raining. But it actually was a nice day. Skies were clear all the way from Atlanta to New Orleans.

He started checking things over in the cockpit as he waited for his co-pilot. It was usually Shane or Abe although it could be any one of the sixteen copilots that worked for the airline.

“Well, shit.”

Rick tensed at the sound of a man’s deep tenor behind him. He grit his teeth and turned around.

“Daryl,” he greeted. “What a...what a...huh.”

“Lame ass greeting back at ya, asshole,” the other man growled. He plopped down in the co-pilot’s chair.

“We’re not even off the ground yet and I’m an asshole already?”

“Don’t worry, you’re an asshole at 35,000 feet, too.”

“Gentlemen, we’ve done the safety song and dance,” Carol said with her usual perkiness. “Ready whenever the tower gives you clearance to proceed to a runway,” 

“Did she say runAway?”

“Damnit, Daryl. I did not run away. I wanted you to come too. You wouldn’t come with me,” Rick said for the seventieth time since their breakup six months ago.

“U.S. Air N70816. You have clearance for takeoff. Over.”

“Takeoff. Yeah I’m familiar with people taking off,” Daryl mumbled.

“Roger that, Tower,” Rick answered as he rolled his eyes.

Rick lined the plane up on the runway and started take-off. Once they were safely in the air and Rick had welcomed the passengers, Daryl turned in his seat.

“You know what I don’t miss?”

“A meal?” Rick asked, lifting a brow at Daryl’s extra few pounds.

Daryl grit his teeth. “Your morning breath.”

“Know what I Do miss?” Rick asked.

“Your hairline?”

Rick bristled. “I miss getting the silent treatment. Let’s play that game again.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

They sat in silence for a good twenty minutes before Rick cracked. “How are thing back in Senoia?”

Daryl flipped a page in the book he was reading. “Same old. Don’t much happen in Senoia. Shit, ain’t that why you ran off to Alexandria? The big city?”

“You know why I left, Daryl.”

“Your a _pilot_ , asshole. You fly for free. So what if Lori took the kids to Alexandria with her! You can fly there any damn time you want.”

“I’d have been up there a lot. You wouldn’t have been happy with that either, Daryl.”

“Of course not. You know I’m never fuckin’ happy! But I’d at least have been able to keep my boyfriend of ten fucking years.”

“If you wanted me to stay so bad, why did you say no to my proposal?”

“Told you, I wanted to do the proposing,” Daryl groused. 

“Then why didn’t you?”

Daryl bit at a nail. “Was waiting for the right time.”

“Like how you always waited for the right time to pick up all your dirty clothes?”

“They eventually got picked up.”

“Yeah, by me.”

“That’s what boyfriends do,” Daryl said as he turned and his elbow rammed against the instrument panel.

“Pick up your dirty underwear?”

“Yeah, man. That’s the male equivalent of giving flowers.”

“Are you comparing your day-old drawers to a bouquet of roses?”

They were interrupted by Carol. “Boys, anything to drink up here.”

“Yeah, Bourbon. Double. And keep ‘em comin’,” Daryl answered.

“Sure thing. As soon as we land, Pookie,” Carol said with a wink. “It can’t be that bad up here. You were in love once,” Carol reminded them.

“He called me an asshole before we were even off the ground,” Rick tattled.

“He said I was fat,” Daryl whined.

“No I didn’t,” Rick said holding one finger up in the air to clarify. “I insinuated that you were well fed.”

“Are you two gonna be able to fly and land this plane before you kill each other?”

“Give it my best,” Daryl answered without turning around.

“I can’t promise anything,” Rick grumbled as he glared at Daryl.

“Well, if I feel turbulence I’ll come up to check,” Carol answered, as she shut the cockpit door.

“How did we go from proposal to this?” Rick sighed.

“You broke my heart.”

“YOU broke MY heart.”

“You know,” Daryl started, “I was on a date the other night and-“

“What!? You went on a date?”

“Jealous?” Daryl winked.

“Yes I’m fucking jealous. I haven’t dated anyone!”

“Why not?”

“Because you _broke_ my _heart_ ,” Rick repeated.

“Anyway, I was on this date, right? Uhhhm, I think Anthony was his name. He sent his soup back because the corn to chicken ratio of the chicken corn soup was insufficient.”

“He sent it back?”

“Yeah.”

“They spit in that soup afterwards,” Rick said, as if it were fact.

“That’s what I said,” Daryl enthusiastically agreed. “First and last date, man.”

They were quiet a moment then Rick asked, “You date anyone else?”

Daryl shrugged. “Couple.”

“Any of them take?”

“Nah. One told me to stop biting my nails.”

“Oooh yea. You hate it when people say that to you.”

“Another left a $4 tip on a $54 bill at La Bella Italia.”

“Your favorite restaurant! You beat him with a rubber hose?”

“Thought about it. Tossed a $20 on top of it as we left.”

“Good thinking. Don’t want them to start spitting in your food.”

“Right!!” Daryl agreed.

“One had straight hair and you know I prefer curls.”

“Christ, Daryl! How many guys have you dated in the past six months?”

“I got on the match.com.”

Rick sighed and adjusted some knobs. “We’re heading into turbulence,” he said.

Daryl grabbed the intercom, “Attention passengers. This is your co-pilot speaking. The ride is going to get a little bumpy, but rest assured- it’s just because of the weather, not because the pilot is an asshole.” He clicked off, then got back on “even though he is one.”

Rick glared at the other man and picked up his intercom.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I apologize for the inappropriate language. Our co-pilot is suffering from Tourette’s.” Rick clicked off the air and then clicked on. “He’s also an immature man-child.”

The cabin door opened and Andrea popped her head in.

“The passengers would like the asshole and the man-child to make up before we all die.” She closed the door not even waiting for a response.

Daryl tugged at his tie and then pulled it off and dropped it on the floor.

Rick looked at it, then looked back at Daryl.

“I’m not picking that up.”

“Yes, you will.”

“No I won’t!”

“Yes, you will.”

“No I won’t!”

“Okay. Leave it.”

Rick put the auto pilot on and stormed over to Daryl, grabbing the tie and hanging it over his chair. “I don’t know how I could have dated you for so long. You know I can’t stand a mess.”

The cockpit door opened again. Carol stepped inside. “Um the passengers are taking bets on whether you two will make up before we land.”

“Oh yeah?” Rick asked. “I’ll take a piece of that action.”

Carol shook her head and left.

“You’d have lost,” Daryl said.

“Don’t flatter yourself. My bet was that we don’t.”

“I think we will,” Daryl said confidently.

“Why’s that, man-child?”

Daryl stood up, took a step towards Rick and got down on one knee. “I know I said I’d never leave Senoia,” Daryl started, “but one of the things I liked best about it is that you were there. Will you marry me if I move my ass to Alexandria?”

They heard a burst of applause from the passenger section of the plane and Andrea opened the cockpit door. “By the way, the intercom button has been stuck.”

“Since when?” Daryl asked, flushing with embarrassment.

“Since dirty underwear and roses,” she answered, then closed the door.

Daryl looked back up at Rick from his knees as Rick fooled with the intercom button to unstick it. “So will ya?”

“You know I can’t resist your brand of romance,” Rick smiled. “Of course I will.”

They kissed a relieved, long over-due kiss.

Daryl went back to his seat and got on the speaker. “He said yes!” He told the passengers and another cheer burst from the back of the plane.

“How did you know I hadn’t moved on and started dating someone?” Rick asked with a grin.

“I been calling Carl weekly,” Daryl answered.

“You have?” Rick asked with a smile.

“Course I have. Practically raised the boy with ya. Not gonna just stop talking to him...asshole.”

**Author's Note:**

> My fics are so few and far between anymore. I just hope folks are still reading and enjoying!


End file.
